Fresh Herb Vinegar

Fresh Herb Vinegar

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As Summer starts to close shop it's time to look around the garden and start thinking about preserving some of summer's last veggies and herbs. Temps are still pretty high around here so a lot of the herbs are still doing well.  Herb flavored vinegar is a great way to use up fresh herbs that you don't have time to cook.  Vinegar makes a great base for salad dressing and marinades.  The best part is that vinegar is a natural preservative so these won't go bad sitting in the cupboard all Winter, in fact they will just get better with age.

Just about any herb will work well, and just about any Vinegar.  For food based vinegar I tend to like an unfiltered Apple Cider vinegar over a standard white but both will work well.   It's fun to experiment with other varieties like Wine Vinegar too! Try mixing your herbs with other flavors like peppercorns, dried peppers, or even garlic cloves for some really unique flavors.   You can't make any mistakes here.  There are so many recipes that use Vinegar and having your own unique homemade flavor will make any dish your own.

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In my recipe I used fresh chopped Rosemary because I have a ton of it, some pepper corns and some dried chili peppers.  Amber bottles work well because they block a lot of damaging light.  (I save Kombucha bottles for this purpose!).  You want to fill your container 1/2 full with the herbs and fill the rest with your Vinegar.  This needs to age for about a month to 6 weeks before using so place it in your cupboard in a dark and cool location.  I'm already thinking of the many ways I plan on using this when the time is right.

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